Allied Health Professionals
‘Allied Health Professional’ is a collective term for a variety of different health care professionals – all registered with the Health and Care Professions Council. There are lots of ways Allied Health Professionals (AHP) can help people living with dementia and their families. Allied Health Professionals have created a suite of information resources for people with dementia, their families and carers. This includes information on activities at home, eating well, footcare and diet and hydration. This information is relevant for people living at home, being supported at home or in a care home setting.
What is an Allied Health Professional?
There are 14 Allied Health Professions: Arts Therapist, Diagnostic Radiographer, Dietitian, Dramatherapist, Music Therapist, Occupational Therapists, Orthoptist, Orthotist, Paramedic, Physiotherapist, Podiatrist, Prosthetist, Speech and Language Therapist, and Therapeutic Radiographer.
AHPs can all help in different ways to improve the quality of life for people living with dementia. All AHPs will most probably meet someone living with dementia at some point in their professional career, but for some such as Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Dietitians and Speech and Language Therapists, working with people living with dementia will be the prime focus of their role.
For example, the work of an Occupational Therapist can enable people to continue to work after a diagnosis. They can suggest adjustments such as reducing background noise, flexibility with breaks, use of memory prompts and organising the desk with only the necessary tools required for the job.
It is best to make early contact with an AHP if you are worried about your memory or if you or someone in your family has recently been diagnosed with dementia. That way you can get the information, advice and treatment that is right for you and your family as quickly as possible.
If you would like to speak to someone about how Allied Health Professionals can help support you, call our 24 hour Freephone Dementia Helpline number on 0808 808 3000. Alternatively, our AHP colleagues have set-up an online blog and X account: @AHPDementia where AHPs share handy tips with you, showcasing how they can help support you to live well with dementia.
You can download a leaflet below summarising the main AHPs that can support you to live well with dementia by clicking the button below:
AHP resources for people with dementia, families and carers, and health and social care practitioners
Allied Health Professionals have created a suite of information resources for people with dementia, their families and carers. This includes information on activities at home, eating well, footcare and diet and hydration. This information is relevant for people living at home, being supported at home or in a care home setting.
AHP postcards
Activities at home
Practical tips
- Tips for eating and drinking booklet
- Tips for talking
- Practical tips to help my memory
- Six Exercises for Strength and Flexibility
- Six exercises for Strength and Flexibility video
- Just Move: Physical Activity and Exercise Ideas for People Living with Dementia
- Six Exercises for Strength and Balance
- Six exercises for Strength and Balance video
- Self management postcard
Staying connected
AHP resources for fellow Allied Health Professionals
The Connecting People, Connecting Support framework
Our approach is supported by the ‘Connecting People, Connecting Support’ framework, first published in 2017 (then add a link to the document) a continued commitments outlined in Scotland’s National Dementia Strategies and it is just one of the areas that Alzheimer Scotland is campaigning for key transformational change in.
In November 2024, we launched our third AHP report in dementia called Connecting People, Connecting Support: looking back, looking ahead. An update report on transforming the allied health professions’ contribution to supporting people living with dementia, their families and carers in Scotland. In the report we share the progress to date, where the report describes what has happened since Connecting People, Connecting Support in action was published in 2020.
You can learn more by clicking the button below to download Connecting People, Connecting Support: looking back, looking ahead.
AHP Webinars
2025 Webinars
Delivering Ambition 1. Enhancing Access in action
Delivering Ambition 2. Partnership working in action
2024 Webinars
Connecting People, Connecting Support; Policy, Practice and People
Reading Allowed: the benefits of reading aloudBrain health across the lifespan
Connecting carers to support – AHP Dementia Webinar
2023 Webinars
Music Therapy Care Home Teams and Dementia
Driving and Dementia AHP Dementia Webinar
Co Designing Journeying through Dementia
Communicating in Grace’s World The Five Good Communication Standards in practice
Taking care to the patient
Podiatry Talking Mats from development to practice
Public Health and Brain Health in Action2022 Webinars
From Frail to Hale and Hearty A brief intervention in malnutrition
Just Move; Keeping moving with dementia
Music and Dementia
2021 Webinars
Let’s talk about occupation and cognitive impairment in an acute hospital setting
Lets talk about learning disabilities and cognitive impairment
Let’s talk about stairlifts and cognitive impairment
2020 Webinars
Making Exercise Programs Work for People Living with Dementia
A Rights Based Approach to Driving and DementiaDemystifying Delirium
Enhancing lives through technology
Sharing good news and meaningful activity with people in hospital “The Hospital Times”
Connecting People, Connecting Support Online
Supporting people to eat and drink well with dementia
The AHP approach
This AHP approach outlines 5 key areas where Allied Health Professionals can make a positive difference to people living with dementia. While the elements of the AHP approach are described separately, they must be considered collectively within overall universal, targeted and specialist AHP-led rehabilitation and for support for people living with dementia.